A DART streetcar passes in front of El Fenix near the Beckley Avenue stop in Oak Cliff. A southward expansion of the streetcar line is planned for later this year. And a connecting shuttle bus service around the Bishop Arts District is planned after that.

(2015 File Photo -
Staff
)

The Dallas-Oak Cliff streetcar’s schedule is getting a revamp in the first of a handful of high-profile Dallas Area Rapid Transit service changes and expansions coming in the new year.

The streetcar in February will continue its trips departing every 30 minutes, but service will start and end much later in the day. Service will begin at 9:30 a.m. and end at midnight. DART will also expand the same schedule to weekends for the first time.

Once the free line is extended from Methodist Dallas Medical Center to the Bishop Arts District, by the end of the year, streetcars will run every 20 minutes each day.

“Once that’s operational, we’re really going to start to see the returns,” Dallas City Council member Scott Griggs said of the streetcar line, which opened last year.

DART also plans to run a Bishop Arts shuttle after that streetcar expansion. From the Bishop Arts streetcar stop at Davis Street and Zang Boulevard, the shuttle will run west on Davis, south on Polk Street, east on Jefferson Boulevard and north on Zang, forming a perimeter around the popular shopping and dining district.

“The service hours and frequency would match the Dallas streetcar,” Rob Smith, DART service planning and scheduling assistant vice president, said at an agency meeting in December.

The shuttle, unlike the streetcar, is unlikely to be free for passengers.

The streetcar expansion and Bishop Arts shuttle are expected to replace a portion of the route of D-Link, a specially branded bus line that people can ride for free between Oak Cliff, downtown and Uptown.

DART, Dallas and the economic development nonprofit Downtown Dallas Inc. cover the $1.8 million annual cost of D-Link. It’s meant to connect residents and visitors to various parts of the city’s urban core while DART continues to expand its streetcar and light-rail networks downtown.

City officials and downtown leaders want DART to serve new areas in and around downtown with D-Link once it stops running into Oak Cliff. Desired destinations include Deep Ellum, the Design District and Trinity Groves.

Downtown Dallas Inc. talked to several groups in 2015 as it updated Downtown Dallas 360, a master plan aimed at revitalizing the central business district and surrounding neighborhoods. Kourtny Garrett, DDI executive vice president, said the top priority that people routinely mentioned was better connections in burgeoning job and residential centers.

“It’s bringing together all of these vibrant nodes we’ve created over the past 15 years,” Garrett said.

And while that includes plans for area highways, Garrett said people want to be able to get around without getting in a car.

“By and large, we’re hearing more of a balance of priorities on public transportation, on bikes, on pedestrian paths,” she said.

With limited funds, DART says it can’t reach all the desired downtown-area districts that are undergoing renaissances. DART officials say they’re exploring funding sources for such expansions further in the future. But one area they plan to reach in 2016 is the Farmers Market, in downtown’s southeastern corner.

A proposed route would connect the city’s convention center, the West End, the Main Street district, Farmers Market, the Arts District and Uptown. Unlike the current route, which largely runs in a loop, the proposed path would zigzag through downtown as it connects key points.

DART officials hope a new approach draws more people and fixes delays that have drawn criticism for the current service. Of course, the exact path is still up in the air.

“There’s going to be a lot of discussion,” Smith said.

By the end of 2016, DART also expects to open the new Camp Wisdom and University of North Texas at Dallas Stations on its Blue Line. That rail line change will force some bus route changes, extensions and eliminations. The agency also wants to increase the frequency of two shuttle routes that serve the new Parkland Memorial Hospital, which opened in 2015.

DART officials are expected to begin public meetings about the D-Link and bus route changes in February, with the board approving final changes in April.